In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to its knees. When we weren't sheltering in place, we were advised to wear masks, wash our hands, and practice social distancing. We watched in horror as medical personnel worked around the clock to care for the sick and dying. Businesses were shuttered, travel stopped, workers were furloughed, and markets dropped. And people continued to die.
Amid all this uncertainty, writers and artists from around the world continued to create comics, commenting directly on how individuals, societies, governments, and markets reacted to the worldwide crisis. COVID Chronicles: A Comics Anthology collects more than sixty such short comics from a diverse set of creators, including indie powerhouses, mainstream artists, Ignatz and Eisner Award winners, and media cartoonists. In narrative styles ranging from realistic to fantastic, they tell stories about adjusting to working from home, homeschooling their kids, missing birthdays and weddings, and being afraid just to leave the house. They probe the failures of government leaders and the social safety net. They dig into the racial bias and systemic inequities that this pandemic helped bring to light. We see what it's like to get the virus and live to tell about it, or to stand by helplessly as a loved one passes.
At times heartbreaking and at others hopeful and humorous, these comics express the anger, anxiety, fear, and bewilderment we feel in the era of COVID-19. Above all, they highlight the power of art and community to help us make sense of a world in crisis, reminding us that we are truly all in this together.
The comics in this collection have been generously donated by their creators. A portion of the the proceeds from the sale of this volume are being donated by the publisher to the Book Industry Charitable Foundation (Binc) in support of comics shops, bookstores, and their employees who have been adversely affected by the pandemic.
Kendra Boileau is the Publisher of Graphic Mundi and the Assistant Director and Editor-in-Chief of Penn State University Press. She developed the Graphic Medicine line of graphic novels for PSU Press and went on to launch the Graphic Mundi imprint in 2021. Boileau has been a judge for the annual Lynd Ward Prize for the Best Graphic Novel, and she serves on the Lynd Ward Prize Advisory Board. Boileau is also a French-to-English translator of graphic novels.
Rich Johnson is a publishing consultant and the founder of Brick Road Media, LLC. Previously, he held leadership positions at Lion Forge Comics and DC Comics, and he was the cofounder of Yen Press. He created the sales and marketing strategy for Neil Gaiman's Sandman: Endless Nights, the first original graphic novel to hit the New York Times Best Sellers list. In 2011, Johnson was selected as a judge for the Eisner Awards, considered by many to be the Oscars of comics.
Featuring work by Gene Ambaum, Julio Anta, Ned Barnett, Ken Best, Armond Boudreaux, Eiri Brown, Thi Bui, Maureen Burdock, Roland Burkart, Pavith C, Brian Canini, Jason Chatfield, Lili Chin, Gerry Chow, MK Czerwiec, Zack Davisson, Joe Decie, Deloupy, Ignacio Di Meglio, Katy Doughty, Peter Dunlap-Shohl, Sarah Firth, Eduardo Garcia, Mike Garcia, Hatiye Garip, Simon Gentry, Aaron Guzman, Rivi Handler-Spitz, Justin Hansen, Kurt Hathaway, Mark Heinrichs, Natascha Hoffmeyer, Laura Holzman, John Jennings, Kang Jing, Quincy Scott Jones, Scott Jones, Jazmine Joyner, Rob Kirby, Rob Kraneveldt, Jesse Lambert, Kelly Latham, Janet K. Lee, Ajuan Mance, Luis Manriquez, Lee Marrs, Seth Martel, Tom K. Mason, Sean Seamus McWhinny, Ben Mitchell, Terry Moore, Eli Neugeboren, Tim Ogline, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, Willow Payne, Stephanie Nina Pitsirilos, S. I. Rosenbaum, Jacoby Salcedo, Kay Sohini, Arigon Starr, Emily Steinberg, Jay Stephens, Sage Stossel, Chris Summers, Tamara, Brenna Thummler, Seth Tobocman, Shelley Wall, Ian Williams, Richard You Wu, Zen, and Annie Zhu.
